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Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania was recently appointed the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser for the Sahel. A former deputy executive director for UN Environment, Mr. Thiaw is now charged with, among other responsibilities, mobilising domestic and international support for the socioeconomic development of the Sahel region, which covers 10 African countries, according to the UN. In this interview…

The fashion industry is valued upward of 2.5 trillion dollars, and employs some 75 million people globally – so it makes good sense to shift textile production from fossil fuel-based synthetic fibers to renewable, biodegradable textiles, made from wood, according to a new United Nations initiative that aims to make forests literally more fashionable. The United Nations Economic Commission for…

The proposed analytical framework applies systems thinking to the land topic. It uses the interdisciplinary concept of land systems and aims for an integrated assessment strategy for monitoring the state of land and its resources. Key challenges are related to constraints in data availability and scientifically sound methodological approaches to measuring the sensitivity level of…

Everlyne Nairesiae is a Lead author of paper - Land degradation neutrality and tenure security — the SDG’s prospects; A Better World, volume 4 is a Tudor Rose publication in partnership with UNCCD for the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) and beyond. There is increasing recognition by policymakers, and practitioners worldwide, that secure tenure rights to land are strongly…

Today, over 50% of the world’s population lives in cities and by 2050, urban centres will increase by 80%. It is widely believed that current food systems cannot sustainably meet the growing food demands of cities. We need transformative change to nourish people sustainably, while simultaneously preserving and restoring our ecosystems. Urban residents consume the largest share of food and…

Sub-Saharan Africa has just experienced one of the best decades of growth since the 1960s. Between 2000 and 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than 4.5 percent a year on average, compared to around 2 percent in the prior 20 years (World Bank various years). In 2012, the region's GDP growth was estimated at 4.7 percent- 5.8 percent if South Africa is excluded (World Bank 2013). About one…